Winter 2001

Features

Cataclysm, Light, & Passion :: Even though the Washington wine industry is in its relative infancy, it is playing with the big boys. How did it get so good so quickly? by Tim Steury

The Laguna's Secrets :: On the shore of the Laguna Especial, some 30 locals of all ages watch patiently, no doubt mentally rehearsing the crazy gringo stories they'll share tonight over dinner. The archaeologists are the best show on the mountain. by Tim Steury

Shanthi the elephant is due in December

AS YOU MIGHT WELL IMAGINE,
artificially inseminating an elephant
is a touchy business. But,
says Janine Brown, artificial insemination
(AI) is an important tool,
because natural reproduction can
be difficult for captive elephants.
Bulls are dangerous to keep, there
aren’t many of them around, and
transporting the females to where
the bulls are is both stressful and
expensive.

Brown, who completed two
degrees in animal science (’80 M.S.,
’84 Ph.D.) at Washington State University,
is the senior endocrinologist
at the Smithsonian Institution
National Zoological Park in Washington,
D.C. There, in late February
2000, she coordinated the successful
artificial insemination (AI) of
Shanthi, a 24-year-old Asian elephant.
Shanthi is due in December.

Captive animals serve an important
function, says Brown. “People
often don’t care about things they
don’t see.” Also, she says, we need
to learn more about elephants so
that we can better manage them,
both in zoos and in the wild.

“Many females of reproductive
age are not exhibiting normal
estrous cycles,” says Brown. This
means they can’t be bred at all.
Brown currently is trying to determine
why these animals are not
cycling. Preliminary data suggest
that there probably are both physiological
and behavioral causes.

The reproductive tract of the
female elephant is several meters
long, making it hard to get the
semen to the right place for fertilization.
And the semen is not easy
to collect from bull elephants that
can weigh up to six tons. But recent
technological advances have
reversed two decades of failure.

German collaborators in Shanthi’s
AI developed an endoscopeguided
semen catheter, along with
ultrasound techniques that allow
visualization of the entire reproductive
tract. Brown’s laboratory at the
Smithsonian developed a hormone
assay technique that allowed the
team to know exactly when AI
would be most successful.

Brown’s lab handles hormone
analyses of blood samples for more
than three dozen zoos. She consults
on reproductive problems in elephants,
rhinos, and exotic cats and
is reproductive advisor for the
group that produces recommendations
for breeding captive elephants.